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Topic: KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 (Read 207758 times)

Najemikon

Gone Baby Gone is still in my massive 'to watch' pile so perhaps my opinion will change. I will concede there has been a certain level of maturing for these two guys in recent years but then all I have to do is throw in a Kevin Smith movie or something like Stuck On You and I begin to find it difficult to give them much credit.

As far as them taking things seriously themselves? Oh I believe that. I'm sure there were no two people more surprised when their names were announced as winners of the Screenplay Oscar than they were.

KC

See, I don't believe they've changed. Good Will Hunting was no one-off; they've always been capable of what they've done, but they have fun with it too. Kevin Smith is a perfect example... do you like those films?

KinkyCyborg

Gone Baby Gone is still in my massive 'to watch' pile so perhaps my opinion will change. I will concede there has been a certain level of maturing for these two guys in recent years but then all I have to do is throw in a Kevin Smith movie or something like Stuck On You and I begin to find it difficult to give them much credit.

As far as them taking things seriously themselves? Oh I believe that. I'm sure there were no two people more surprised when their names were announced as winners of the Screenplay Oscar than they were.

KC

See, I don't believe they've changed. Good Will Hunting was no one-off; they've always been capable of what they've done, but they have fun with it too. Kevin Smith is a perfect example... do you like those films?

I have yet to watch Dogma or Chasing Amy yet, both of which have achieved some acclaim, although I do own them. I don't mind Kevin Smith movies but I'm not a huge fan.

That's the problem when I have so many unwatched movies I can only form opinions based on what I have already seen. Dogma should be an interesting watch as I'm curious to see how Alan Rickman fits into that brand of comedy.

I will concede there has been a certain level of maturing for these two guys in recent years but then all I have to do is throw in a Kevin Smith movie or something like Stuck On You and I begin to find it difficult to give them much credit.

Plot:Before Top Gun, Apollo 13 or The Right Stuff, this breathtaking, jet-fueled journey of high-altitude filmmaking blasted audiences from zero-G to 4,000 miles per hour with its thrilling tale of America's victory in the space race. Starring David Mclean, Charles Bronson and Mary Tyler Moore, X-15 sets the sky as the limit - for excitement!

The courageous pilots of the Air Force's X-15 program are determined to take an experimental rocket 100 miles above the earth... at four times the speed of sound! At stake is American air supremacy and proof that space travel is possible. but also at stake are their lives... and the lives of the terrified wives they've left behind.

Extras:Scene AccessClosed Captioned

My Thoughts:

I generally enjoy movies of historical significance but this one was a bit of a bore. About early experimental rockets that would eventually lead to the shuttle program, I found it repetitive and lacking any excitement. The special effects used for the scenes when the rocket exits the earths atmosphere were very campy, even by 1962's standards.

Charles Bronson, whom I'm used to doling out vigilante justice or squinting from beneath a cowboy hat was quite out of place in this one as a test pilot. Mary Tyler Moore's head of hair looked more like a helmet than the ones used by the pilots. James Stewart narrates.

If you are really into planes the monstrous, modified B-52's are quite impressive.

KinkyCyborg

I knew Donner was older than he looks, but he made movies in 1962 already...? Wow.

Looking at his IMDB resume it looks like this was his feature film debut as a director having only done TV prior to it. Some interesting shows he worked on included Wanted : Dead Or Alive, Zane Grey Theatre, The Rifleman and Have Gun Will Travel... who knew!?

Plot:A one-night stand turns into three days of bonding and exploring what men and women want from life – and from each other – in this sexy and provocative romantic comedy.

When Josh (David Wenham, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers) and Cin (Susie Porter, Paradise Road) meet at a party, they are not initially attracted to each other. But when they share a taxi home, they decide to take advantage of an opportunity to have easy sex. Much to their surprise, their night of casual sex turns into something more than either of them expected, and as night turns to day and into night again, Josh and Cynthia realize they might have made a bigger mess of their lives than they could ever have imagined...their night of lust just might be the start of a beautiful relationship, and no matter how hard they both try to fight it and flee, fate keeps stepping in to bring them back together. When it comes time for Josh to leave, there is only one question left to answer: will they walk away or will they surrender?

Extras:Scene AccessFeature TrailersClosed Captioned

My Thoughts:

Aussie flick about a one night stand that turns into much more. There's actually a cute little love story behind all the constant sex. I think the use of no name actors actually help this work.

I got this movie from Phoenix back on SwitchPlanet basically as a throw in to help even off a trade and I'm glad I did as it was an entertaining, sometimes erotic watch. Much better than the last Australian made movie I watched (Little Fish).

Plot:Brad Pitt takes no prisoners in Quentin Tarentino's high-octane WWII revenge fantasy Inglourious Basterds. As war rages in Europe, a Nazi-scalping squad of American soldiers, known to their enemy as "The Basterds," is on a daring mission to take down the leaders of the Third Reich. Bursting with "action, hair-trigger suspense and a machine-gun spray of killer dialogue" (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone), Inglourious Basterds is "another Tarantino masterpiece" (Jake hamilton, CBS TV)!

Extras:

My Thoughts:

Oh me, oh my!

I resolved to deviate slightly from my method of selecting movies to watch by making every 10th movie one I get to choose without the assistance of a random number generator in an effort to get in some movies I really want to see without having to wait on chance to choose it for me. There was no indecision or debate... I went straight for Inglourious Basterds.

Before I begin my review, let me preface it by saying this was the third movie I had watched today, a fact made quite obvious by the dirty looks my wife was giving me for residing on my hump for almost the entire day. I started to feel bad and guilty about it... until about 10 minutes into Basterds and then those feelings quickly went away!

I've had mixed reactions to Tarantino's previous movies... I liked Reservoir Dogs, REALLY liked Pulp Fiction but was somewhat lukewarm to the Kill Bill movies. I've yet to watch Jackie Brown or his Grindhouse entry. I admit to buying into the hype of Basterds and given the WWII theme I was wired up to watch it and was hoping it lived up to the hype.

What a movie! Even though I expected it would be great it still exceeded all my expectations. Leave it to Tarantino to rewrite history! You expect all the shocks and surprises from one of Quentin's films and yet when they happen they still reach up and grab you by the balls (if you have them). Sure there was sheer moments of complete implausibility born out of convenience to the plot but who gives a shit. Nobody was ever going to confuse this with a WWII documentary or think it was based on 'true events'.

Christoph Waltz... where did this guy come from?!?! Like most people I had never heard of him till now but seemingly everyone knows him! Hans Landa was scary at first but as the movie progresses you begin to respect and admire his evil style and coy manipulations. Well done! I also liked Til Schweiger in his limited screen time as German turncoat Hugo Stiglitz. Such a cool name... Stiglitz! Kind of rolls off the tongue... I actually thought Brad Pitt was the weak link in this movie. Some mustard with that ham? Yeeesh! Entirely too over the top. The scene where he is trying to pass himself off as an Italian at the movie premiere was completely absurd and even if it was meant to be it was still too much.

Some scenes and moments in this film will never be forgotten. The branding to the German soldiers who were lucky enough to survive the Basterds... the Jew Bear hitting a home run... the clever wordplay of Landa in the opening scene which revealed the hidden Jews without his men having to so much as lift a finger to search for them. All terrific!

If you haven't watched this already, do yourself a favor... go buy it, or at the very least pay the couple of bucks to rent it.

I can't confirm this as I didn't see his name in the credits, but when Landa handed the radio back to Raine the OSS Commander who was giving Raine his instructions sure as hell sounds like Harvey Kietel. I played it back 3 times and I'll eat my hat if that's not him. I did catch the Samuel L. Jackson narration and I'm sure upon subsequent viewings there are more Tarantino alumni and references to be found.